More than just code review
Effective coding agent use requires confident instruction and verification, not just line-by-line review
“The key skill required to make productive use of coding agents is being able to confidently instruct them on how to make changes and then confidently verify that those changes have been applied in the correct way.”
Simon Willison argues that the core competency for working with coding agents is confident instruction and verification, not exhaustive line-by-line code review. He notes that eyeballing every line has never been the most effective validation method anyway. This reframes how developers should think about their role when working alongside AI coding tools.